Nobody knows what’s going to happen with the future of Eagles defensive coordinator Juan Castillo, but it wasn’t a good sign yesterday when the Eagles prevented him from being interviewed after the game.
Clearly the Eagles plan regarding Castillo yesterday was don’t say anything.
Last year Andy Reid spoke about defensive coordinator Sean McDermott right after the game and told us he was going to bring him back, but he wound up firing McDermott a few days later. Big Red wasn’t going to make that mistake after the game yesterday, so he refused to answer any questions about Castillo’s future.
“For all of those kinds of questions, I have no answers for you on all of that,” Reid said. “I haven’t thought about all of that, and I’m not going to start right now. I’m going to enjoy this win and the New Year.”
He did praise the job the former offensive line coach had done down the stretch.
“I think he did a nice job,” Reid said. “The defense played strong, and I thought he was proud of his coaches and players.”
You know Reid wants to bring Castillo back, but would he be willing to put his job on the line in order to make sure he comes back.
Most of the team’s defensive players were asked about Castillo’s future after the game. Some of the players praised him but others were much more down the middle with their comments.
Defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins threw his support completely behind Castillo.
“I don’t think Juan should even be judged on the last four games,” Jenkins said. “He put us in position to win these last four games, and he put us in position to win all the other games, we just didn’t make the plays early in the season to win those games. The last four games, we did.”
Cornerback Nmandi Asomugha wasn’t nearly as supportive of Castillo.
“I don’t know what the people in charge will be looking at,” Asomugha said. “I think that as the season progressed we all started to get more comfortable and better. [Castillo] started to figure what works in the NFL and what doesn’t.”
He was being honest but that doesn’t provide a good picture for Castillo, nor Reid’s decision to make him the defensive coordinator. Should the head of your defense being learning on the job?
4 wins against scrub teams.
Same old Andy Reid.
A champion against scrubs.
The Patriots came into our house and gave you a realistic view of what this team does against a quality opponent. While things still mattered.
Like Asmo has room to talk, he was the biggest bust “Free-Agent” signing in the entire NFL and not just this Season, maybe of All-Time witch his disappointing play.. maybe he should keep his mouth shut and learn how to cover better in Open Spaces and learn how to Tackle better… His poor play the 1st half of the Seaon was a good reason why the Eagles didn’t make the Playoffs..
The Gall of some of these players just amazes me, isn’t there any players anymore who take on some responsibility and accountability for their play..
Wouldn’t it been niec to hear him say ” Yes, Coach Juan struggled as we all did as Players learning the new system and learning how to play with each other.. We improved down the stretch and are excited to work hard in the Off-Season to improve upon our strong finish..” I guess this would be more wishful thinking on my part.. These athletes of today are just so spoiled and arrogant that it really pisses me off and these are supposed to be the leaders of the Team (Vick,D-JAx, Samuel and Asmo) .. And then we blame the Coaches for this Team having no heart or a lack of sense of urgency..
Man up Asmop and others.. The Team underperformed because of some poor play by you the players during the 1st half of the Season too..
Wimping out on a real decesion, Jeffery will let Andy come back….Little Napoleanic JoeB shows his class by again claiming Birds are number one in the city in his most condescending manner, Mail-boy turned Valet, turned player selector boasts of his two lousey drafts and says he can’t wait to trade all the first, second and third round draft positions to pick up talent in the 5th, 6th, and 7th rounds to play linebacker and safety….and Andy stays and proclaims JC returning with his learning season complete…….the faithful cry, and the lapdog, koolade drinkers try to spin the 13th year of failure in a good way, come on spin doctors, do your thing.
I don’t think Asmo’s comments were meant to be a slight towards Juan. I think he was basically just saying that they all started to figure things out and gel towards the end. But as someone else pointed out, it was against Matt Moore, JP Losman, Steve McGee, Sanchez, and Rex Grossman. Top echelon QBs like Brady had their way with the Eagles and QBs like Brees, Big Ben, etc will do so next year if changes are not made. Michael Vick really needs to get to work as well because this was an absolute abysmal season for a QB making the kind of money he was. I would say his turnovers alone accounted for at least two losses.
Spags just got fired! Looks like things are in place, they dont let JC talk, Reid postpones his last interview until the end of the week. How crazy is this that this is what we have to look forward to?
I don’t agree at all that Asmo’s comments were smug, not being accountable as a player… Garry’s comments set you up to believe he was not supportive of Juan. Remember, NA was brought in at last moment and it was Juan and company who couldn’t figure out how to use him, Samuel (who was griping) and DRC. Very poor planning by FO, Reid and DC and how they were going to use Asmo and the entire secondary, plus injuries at safety. Then the LB play was simply awful when Reid stated Matthews would start at MLB when he simply was not ready for that position at NFL level.
A DC doesn’t get it “all together” in one year, so Juan will still be learning on the job next year. If this organization is serious about winning a SB, they can’t be using novices in key coaching positions. I like Juan and it’s a difficult position for Reid, but they should either let him go or give him chance at less responsible position coach while bringing in Spags or another top DC who can make fast adjustments during game vs top offensive teams.
If you listen to all the former OLmen who played under Juan, then with Mudd, they all candidly tell you they LOVE Mudd’s more aggressive approach at attacking/blocking over Juan’s “catch/hold ground” style. Imagine how things might have been different in ’04 with a Mudd-coached offensive line protecting DMac with that line. To me, the biggest obvious improvement this year was the blocking of the OL for McCoy and Vick under the direction of Mudd working in 2 rookies and Mathis. And Washburn was consistent and willing to modify his wide-9 so Castillo could have more success with LB’s and DB’s. On the surface you can squawk about Wash’s 9 technique, but his D-line was pretty consistent from beginning of season to end. Even Patterson & Landri benefitted from the system.
Paulman, you ask “isn’t there any players anymore who take on some responsibility and accountability for their play..”
I think the first player talked about on this article, Cullen Jenkins, did just that in his statement.
Asoshmuga was smart for his perception.
He was played out of place for the first half this year.
I think Vick accounted for at least 2 losses and the defense looked lost the first half.
Make Castillo a consultant and hire someone like Del Rio to run the defense and scrap the wide 9 if it means bringing in a real Def coordinator.
I think Lurie told Reid you have 1 year and you better find a new defensive coach or else.
Cullen Jenkins has been a stand up player since Day 1..
My Statement was maybe a overall generaliztion perhaps, Celek has been stand-up but when I reas quotes from Vick, D-Jax,Asmo and others, some of these guys just don’t get it and continue to make excuses about outside things instead of looking at their own play.. When your Stat Players are not playing at a “Star Level” then your team has little chance for success and bottom line in the 2011, tht is what happened to this Eagle Team
D-Jax,Vick,Asmo all struggled the 1st 10 Games of the Season let alone play at a High, Pro-Bopwl level and was a big reason the Eagles were already out of it by Halloween in my opinion…